10 Reasons You Shouldn’t Build Your Own Website

You have probably seen the ad either on TV or on the internet, how you can build a professional looking website in 5 minutes. You can drag and drop pictures, text and they make it look so easy. However nothing is ever as easy as it seems and building your own website is no exception. You may think that you will be saving yourself some money by doing it yourself but in the long run it will cost you far more than you saved.

While initially building your own site may seem like a good idea here are 10 reasons why you shouldn’t build your own website:

Professionalism – Websites that have been built by a professional look professional. You have one chance to make a first impression and you don’t want your site looking amateurish. DIY sites can be pretty boring, not interactive and often they are dated with a poor layout.

Time – Building a website is a skill that most developers take years to learn and a DIY site builder can’t teach you those skills. You can spend hours trying to put this together only to have the results be not so great. That time could be better spent with clients or running your business.

Technical Support – What happens if something goes wrong? Will you be able to fix it? DIY website builder may be free or cheap to build but you get what you pay for. If you need technical help or support you will have to pay for it. Most developers have the skill and the resources to fix problems without charging you for help.

Customization – Website builders or ready made templates don’t offer much in the way of features. These sites are really basic and if you want extra features or to add some more content that option won’t be there. They lack any originality and you can end up with the same site as thousands of other people. How do you stand out?

SEO – While you may have an understanding of what SEO is, do you know how to set it up? SEO lets the world find your business on the web which is vital to the success of your business. DIY site builders are terrible for SEO and make an already difficult job that much harder.

Google Analytics – You won’t necessarily be able to verify your site in Webmaster Tools. Webmaster Tools, installed by a developer lets you measure search traffic, any downtime and what people do when they are on your site. This is valuable for getting the most from your site.

Mobile Friendly – Most of these template or DIY sites won’t work on a mobile phone or tablet. Do you know anyone that uses a desktop anymore? Mobile search traffic is overtaking desktop traffic and that is not going to change, you need to be prepared for that.

Branding – You need to have your own domain name to look professional. Having a subdomain just doesn’t look professional and having your own domain also gives you branded email.

Too Little Content – Many of these site builders only allow a limited number of pages or a limited amount of traffic. Fewer pages mean fewer keywords you are able to target, this in turn means less customers reaching your site.

Ads – Any site builder that allows you to build a site for free doesn’t do it out of a spirit of altruism. Instead they do it to place links and ads on the bottom of your site, most have “THIS SITE WAS CREATED BY SO-AND-SO.COM CREATE YOURS FOR FREE!” This is great for them, not so great for you.

For more information on why you should have a professional set up your site have a look at the video below.